The Constitutional Politics of a United Ireland

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union renders a united Ireland more likely than before. Estimates of its likelihood radically diverge,1 but unification is now a subject of political discussion. Although Northern Ireland could be incorporated into the existing unitary Irish state without constitutional amendment, unification is likely to be accompanied by significant constitutional change or a new constitution. In this chapter, we explore the modalities and implications of amending Ireland’s constitution to make a newly unified state more sensitive to the concerns and aspirations of those from the Ulster Scots and Ulster British traditions. Human rights will, no doubt, form part of this, with specific legal and constitutional protections for minorities. Our focus in this chapter lies elsewhere, however, on what we term the ‘constitutional politics’ of a united Ireland.